Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Nawaz Sharif's prank

Editoria:Frontier Post


Is it mere hypocrisy, skullduggery, petty politicking or just a sheer puerility, this prank of the head honcho of his own PML faction, Mian Nawaz Sharif? He says if his PML (N) returns to power in the next election, he would set up yet again military courts in Sindh to rid the province of what he termed the dacoit rule. But these military courts were declared unconstitutional by the nation’s highest court, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, he surely would know. Then how does this erstwhile conqueror of the Supreme Court and Amirul Momineen-aspirant square up his fancy of military courts with his new clothing of a reinvented democrat wholly devoted to noninterference of military in the civilian affairs and whole-heartedly committed to the independence of judiciary? Of course, time will test the new-acquired credentials of this intrinsically a dwarf who by a conspiracy of circumstances has been catapulted to a position of eminence in the national politics, although the portents have never been any cheery, notwithstanding the flattering chirpings of the shoal of his acolytes, sidekicks and hangers-on. His track record is, verily, not any inspiring. If for sheer opportunism he could ditch his pals of the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM),

which incidentally he himself had cobbled up, and fling into the electoral ring under the military dictator without a prick of conscience, what guarantee is there he would not kick out a democratic norm he would find inconvenient and rebuff a judicial verdict found uncomfortable or hard? But is it written in some scriptures that he has to put on display his intellectual shallowness and innate irrationality again and again? Courts come later; first come the nabbing of criminals. After all, you cannot put the cart before the horse. What then has he thought of catching criminals? That is crucial to know but he is just blank on that score. But if practice tells a man, not his vow, Nawaz

certainly fares very poorly on that critical scale. For chasing and nabbing criminals and law-breakers, you necessarily have to have the full police force out on public duty, not on VIP duty. But right under his own nose in his bastion of Punjab, the bulk of police force and police assets are deployed on VIP security, not the people’s protection, under the watch of his own younger sibling. And if media reports are to be believed, he himself is savouring that privileged protection to the fill.So if that is to be the practice, which in all probability it would be, if he does make to the guddi yet again, then where will be a police force to catch criminals and bring them up to his touted military courts for trial and punishment? Surely, the dacoit raj of his perception would keep ruling the roost. It is as simple as that. But, for a change, this self-professed reinvented democrat could afford to give a pause to a distraught and weary people and not play pranks on their nagging distresses and woes. Fighting out criminality and criminals, he must know, is a very serious business. It is not just establishment of military courts. It is more policies, strategies and action plans. He has not shown as yet if he has anything in his mind on this score. Had he had it, Punjab definitely would not have been in the lap of mounting criminality as is it in veritably. He would have guided his younger sibling in ridding their Punjab bastion of the vile scourge. Obviously, his mind is bereft of any ideas or plans. Indeed, had the two brothers purged Punjab of crime, Nawaz would have come across a credible preacher and campaigner to the people of Sindh to free them from the wickedness of criminals. But since in the sea of criminality Punjab is sailing as badly, if not worse, as Sindh, his listeners in Sindh must be laughing in their hearts that if military courts are such a silver bullet in mowing down the thugs, why have the brothers not used it in their own domain. Of course, one can understand the nervousness that a rising political star has driven the brothers into unbearably by storming into their long-held barns. But petty politicking couldn’t be unbounded. One has to refrain from playing politics on a people’s distress and grief and not add insult to their injury. Certainly, the people of Sindh would do without his joke of military courts. Those, in any case, were not as popular with them as has he mistakenly given himself to the belief. Those were very controversial, despite his blatant use of the then state-controlled electronic media to put a very charming contour on them. Perhaps, he doesn’t know this.

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